Tim Rayne

Pennsylvania Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyer

Tim Rayne

Pennsylvania Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyer

Civil Lawsuits

Video – What is Negligence?

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Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer Tim Rayne talks about the legal theory of Negligence, which is the basis for almost any Personal Injury Claim – from Car Accidents and Dog Bites, to Slip and Falls and even Medical Malpractice Claims.

All Negligence claims involve a Duty of Reasonable Care, a Breach or Violation of the Duty, and Injuries and Damages that are Caused by the Violation of the Duty. Watch the Video to learn more about Negligence Claims.

For more information about Personal Injury Law or to have a Free Evaluation of your case, contact Tim Rayne at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website TimRayneLaw.com.  

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When You Do and Don’t Have a Claim After a Slip and Fall on Snow or Ice in Pennsylvania

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It’s wintertime and snow and ice are coming.  So, if you or a family member are injured in a Slip and Fall accident in Pennsylvania on snow or ice, do you have a legal right to be compensated for your injuries?

As an ethical Personal Injury Lawyer, and not an Ambulance Chaser, I’ll tell you that sometimes you just do NOT have any legal claims, even if you are seriously injured.  Sometimes a Slip and Fall on snow or ice is just an accident and bad luck.  Other times, it’s sad to say but it’s your own fault that you fell and got hurt, so you don’t have any legal claims.

On the other hand, under certain circumstances you may have a legal claim and a right to be compensated for your injuries because someone else failed to fulfill his/her legal responsibility to look out for your safety.

With those two possibilities in mind, let’s go over some important concepts of Pennsylvania Law on Slip and Falls on snow and ice.

What Makes a Good Slip and Fall Case?

In order do you have a valid personal injury case you need to prove two things. Number one you need to prove that someone else had a legal duty to look out for your safety and was careless in failing to fulfill that duty. Second you need to prove that you were not careless yourself or if you were, you were less than 51 percent responsible for causing your injury.

No case or It’s Your Fault

First let’s talk about the situations in which you probably don’t have a case or it was your fault.

If you slip and fall on ice on your own property, it’s very unlikely that you have a legal case. However, if the property that you fell on was controlled by a landlord or a homeowners association, then that may not be true.

Also, if you choose to venture out during the middle of a snow or ice storm happen to slip and fall, then it’s very unlikely that you have a legitimate legal case. Pennsylvania law recognizes that it is nearly impossible for a property owner to keep its property free from snow and ice at all times, particularly during the middle of a storm. Accordingly, property owners are given a reasonable period of time after the storm has ended to clear the snow and treat the ice.

In another scenario, if you go out days after a snowstorm realize that place that you are walking on has icy conditions and you voluntarily choose to continue walking despite recognizing the dangerous condition, you are probably assuming the risk of any injury and therefore would not have a legal claim if you fell.

You May Have a Claim for Falling on Snow or Ice If….

Viable claims after you fall and are injured on snow and ice are situations in which somebody else had a responsibility to maintain that property and they failed to do a reasonable job of snow clearing and treating any icy patches.

Property owners are given a pass during the snowstorm and can wait until it ends to do a reasonable job of clearing the snow and treating the ice. If they do not do so and allow the snow to remain and develop dangerous walking conditions (Hills and Ridges), then they can be found liable for slip and fall accidents.

Property owners also have a duty to treat icy patches which form after the snow and ice melt on sidewalks or parking lots. If you happen to slip and fall on one of those patches from melted and refrozen snow, you may have a legitimate claim.

Finally, a property owner has a duty to make sure that their property is properly designed and maintained so that it does not cause icy conditions on sidewalks and parking lots. Examples of negligent design or maintenance include things like improper grading of the land which allows water to flow onto the sidewalk or parking lot and freeze forming icy conditions, roof systems that drop water onto walking surfaces or gutter and drain systems which allow water to accumulate on areas where people will be walking.

In my practice, I’ve had several serious injuries occur because the property owner did not take the time to treat icy patches after they melted and refroze or had a defective gutter or a drainage system which created icy conditions even though there had been no recent snowstorm.

The bottom line is that if you slip and fall and are seriously injured on snow or ice you may or may not have a legal claim to be fairly compensated. Under Pennsylvania law, your claim for compensation includes medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and any negative impact on your life and activities.

Life is full of unpreventable and unfortunate accidents in which you are not entitled to any recourse. However, other times, someone else has dropped the ball and not lived up to their legal responsibilities and therefore should be held accountable and you should be made whole for your preventable injuries.

The good news is that nearly all property owners have insurance to cover Slip and Fall claims so they will be paying out of their personal assets to make up for the mistake that they made.

If you have any other questions about Slip and Fall accidents or any other Car Accident or Personal Injury matters, please do not hesitate to contact me at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or visit my Website TimRayneLaw.com.

Tim Rayne is a Slip and Fall, Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyer with the Pennsylvania law firm MacElree Harvey.  For over 25 years Tim has been helping accident victims receive fair compensation from insurance companies and juries.  Tim has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester Pennsylvania and meets clients at their homes or virtually via Zoom or FaceTime.

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Who Pays for What if You Are Injured on Someone’s Property?

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Who Pays for What if You are Injured on Someone’s Property?

If you are injured on someone’s property, it’s important to notify the property owner immediately and ask for insurance contact information because you may be entitled to be reimbursed for medical bills and are sometimes eligible for other compensation.

Whether you are entitled to compensation after an injury on someone else’s property depends on what happened, how it happened, what injuries and losses your have (medical bills, lost income, disability, scarring, etc.), what type of property it is and what insurance the property owner has.

You may be entitled to nothing or you may be entitled to millions, it all depends.

Med Pay Coverage

Many property owners will have something called Med Pay coverage on their residential property or commercial insurance.  Med Pay coverage is common on homeowner’s or renter’s insurance and on commercial liability insurance policies.

Med Pay coverage will pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses regardless of who was at fault for causing the accident.  Med Pay coverage usually has a time limit, like it covers bills incurred within one year of the accident, and payment limits, like up to $1,000 or $5,000 in total bills.

So, if you are injured in a fall at a store, or bitten by a neighbor’s dog, it’s possible that the store owner or neighbor will have Med Pay coverage to pay your medical bills, even if you cannot prove that the injury was caused by the Negligence of the property owner.

Liability Coverage

Many property owners will also have Liability Coverage which is much greater in amount and covers a broader range of damages compared to Med Pay coverage, but also requires proof of fault or Negligence on behalf of the property owner in order to pay out.

Liability coverage amounts usually range from $100,000 to Millions and the coverage is meant to pay for all legally recoverable damages in a Personal Injury case including medical bills, lost income, disability, pain and suffering and scarring and disfigurement.

The catch is that in order to recover under the Liability Coverage, the injured party must prove that the property owner was at fault, meaning that the property owner’s carelessness or Negligence was the cause of the accident and the injuries.

The most common Liability Coverage situations include Slip and Fall accidents and Dog Bites, but any injury caused by the property owner’s Negligence will likely be covered.

How to Protect Your Legal Rights After an Accident

If you are injured in an accident on someone else’s property, it’s important to do the following:

  1. Immediately notify the property owner;
  2. Ask for insurance contact information;
  3. Get names and contact information of any witnesses;
  4. If relevant, take Photos and Video of the condition that injured you;
  5. Take Photos of your injuries;
  6. Demand that the property owner preserve any security video of the incident;
  7. Get immediate medical treatment to document your injuries; and
  8. Call an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer as soon as you can.

Tim Rayne is a Personal Injury Lawyer practicing with the Pennsylvania full-service law firm MacElree Harvey.  For over 25 years, Tim has been helping injured accident victims understand their legal rights and receive fair treatment from insurance companies.  Tim Rayne has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester, Pennsylvania but also meets with clients at their homes or virtually via FaceTime or Zoom.  Contact Tim to schedule a Free Consultation at 6108400124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.  

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Give and Take – The Catch When You Pursue Both a Worker’s Compensation and a Personal Injury Claim

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The Benefit of Worker’s Compensation Insurance

Worker’s Compensation can be a great benefit to a worker who is injured while performing his or her job. In Pennsylvania, regardless of who was at fault for causing the injury, if you were injured while working, your employer is required to have Worker’s Compensation insurance to cover you.

Your Worker’s Compensation benefits will pay for your work-related injury medical expenses and will pay you roughly two thirds of your lost income up to certain statutory maximum rates.

The benefit of such a system is that if you suffer a serious injury and need extensive medical treatment and miss substantial time from work, your medical bills had lost wages will be covered.

The Worker’s Compensation system, however, does not provide injured workers with complete compensation. Although you receive medical bill payments and partial lost wage coverage, you are not reimbursed for all of your lost wages and you do not receive any compensation for any non-economic damages, like physical or emotional pain and suffering or the negative impact of the injuries on your life and activities.

Why You Should Also Consider a Third Party Lawsuit for Certain Work Accidents

Nevertheless, if the work accident was caused by someone other than the employee, the employer or a co-employee, then then you can consider filing a lawsuit for further compensation.

By way of example, if your job involves driving your car to visit clients and during the course of the workday you are involved in a car accident caused by somebody else, you could make a claim against that driver for compensation above and beyond what you are entitled to under Worker’s Compensation.  You could make a claim for for full reimbursement of any lost income as well as compensation for pain and suffering and the negative impact of the accident on your life and activities. Similarly, if you were involved in some other workplace accident that was caused by the negligence of someone other than your employee or a co-employee, like a slip and fall caused by the negligence of an independent contractor who was cleaning your workplace, you could likewise make a claim for full compensation.

The Catch With Pursuing a Lawsuit After Receiving Worker’s Compensation Benefits

There is a catch, however, when you receive Worker’s Compensation benefits and then choose to pursue a lawsuit arising out of the work accident.

Under Pennsylvania law, your Worker’s Compensation insurance carrier has a Lien on any recovery that you receive in your Personal Injury case. What that means is that the insurance company has the right to be reimbursed for any payments made on your behalf for medical bills or lost wages through the Worker’s Compensation system. So, if you receive compensation from your Personal Injury case, you have to pay back the Worker’s Compensation insurance company what it paid on your behalf in the Workers Compensation claim before you can receive any additional compensation from the lawsuit.

Mechanically what happens is that if you settle your lawsuit or receive a verdict at trial, then you have to report the resolution to your Worker’s Compensation insurance company and a strict formula is used to calculate the amount that you have to pay back to satisfy the Lien.

In my view, this Lien payback makes some sense, but it’s not entirely fair.

It makes sense that the Worker’s Compensation insurance company should be able to recover what it paid on your behalf because the third party caused the accident in the first place and it isn’t fair for you to receive double recovery, Worker’s Compensation benefits and lawsuit money. However, I do not think it is fair that the Worker’s Compensation insurance company is entitled to automatic full reimbursement based upon a rigid formula.

There are many cases in which you cannot recover full and fair compensation in a Personal Injury case, such as the case being risky so it is unwise to take it all the way to trial or the responsible party might not have enough insurance coverage to pay for all of the damages. In these cases, rather than being paid the entire Lien out of the lawsuit recovery, it seems more fair for the Worker’s Compensation insurance company to be reimbursed part of what they paid on your behalf, but for you to still receive some monies to make up for your pain and suffering in the negative impact of the injuries on your life and activities. Nevertheless, under Pennsylvania Law, the Worker’s Compensation Lien payback is absolute, automatically earmarking the money to be paid to the insurance company rather than to the injured person.

In certain circumstances, the Worker’s Compensation insurance company may agree to compromise or reduce its Lien in order to facilitate a settlement so that the injured party receive some money and the insurance carrier is reimbursed some money. This is a more equitable result compared to the insurance company receiving every dollar based upon a strict formula.

So, if you were injured at work in Pennsylvania and believe someone other than your employer or a co-employee is at fault, you should investigate your ability to pursue a lawsuit for compensation, but should also be aware of the Worker’s Compensation Lien that can impact the amount of money you may actually receive.

Tim Rayne is a Personal Injury Lawyer with the Chester County based full-service law firm MacElree Harvey.  For over 25 years, Tim has been helping accident victims understand their legal rights and the insurance claim process and has been fighting with insurance companies for fair compensation.  Tim handles a diverse mix of accident cases from Car, Truck, Motorcycle, Bicycle and Pedestrian Accidents, to Slip and Fall, Dog Bite and Medical Malpractice cases.  Tim has law offices in both Kennett Square and West Chester, Pennsylvania and also meets with clients at their homes or virtually via Zoom or FaceTime.  Tim offers Free Consultations regarding any Pennsylvania Injury Claim and can be reached at 6108400124 or trayne@macelree.com.  For more educational information on Pennsylvania Personal Injury Claims, check out Tim Rayne’s website TimRayneLaw.com.  

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Unfair Things That Happen in Personal Injury Cases – Attacks on Injured Person

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Unfair Things That Happen in Personal Injury Cases

As a 25-plus year Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer, I’ve seen a lot of unfair things happen to Accident Victims, so I thought I’d write a series of articles talking about Unfair Things That Happen in Personal Injury Cases.

The first unfair thing is that the victim is often attacked and put on Trial.

Unfair Defense Tactic – Attack the Victim

You might think that a Personal Injury case would be primarily about the wrongful actions of the Defendant and holding the Defendant accountable for those mistakes.

But, it’s usually not.

In most cases, the focus is on the injured person, the Plaintiff, rather than the Negligent person or company, the Defendant.

In fact, to most Plaintiffs, it ends up feeling like they are “on trial” rather than the Defendant and the case becomes a fishing expedition into the Plaintiff’s background and a personal attack on the Plaintiff.

To try to prevent the Defendant from being held fully accountable for the wrongful act, Defense lawyers will try to paint the Plaintiff in a bad light by showing that the Plaintiff is litigious because of prior legal claims.

Defense lawyers will also subpoena past medical records to try to argue that the Plaintiff had prior injuries that are the culprit of any continuing problems.

Defense lawyers also use “hired gun” doctors who frequently work for their side of the case to review medical records and examine the Plaintiff with the hope that the doctor will testify that the Plaintiff is not injured or that the injuries are related to a prior condition rather than the accident.

The Plaintiff also has to answer written questions during the lawsuit (Interrogatories) and produce medical and income information, as well as sit for a Deposition to answer questions under oath about his/her background, the accident and his/her injuries.

If the case goes to a trial, the Plaintiff has to testify and often faces aggressive cross-examination from the Defense lawyer designed to attack his/her credibility with the hope of minimizing the Verdict.

In the end, the Plaintiff often feels as if he/she is on Trial, rather than the Defendant which is unfair because it was the Defendant’s Negligence that caused the Accident in the first place!

Tim Rayne is a Personal Injury Lawyer with MacElree Harvey.  For over 25 years, Tim has been helping injured accident victims receive fair treatment from insurance companies.  Tim handles Car, Truck, Motorcycle, Truck, Bicycle and Pedestrian Injuries, as well as Slip and Fall, Medical Malpractice and Dog Bite Cases.  You can Contact Tim at 6108400124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at TimRayneLaw.com.

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How Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Car Insurance is Important If You Are Injured in a Bicycle Accident?

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The Importance of Uninsured/Underinsured Car Insurance After a Bicycle Accident

If you or a family member is injured in a bicycle accident, then why would it matter what coverage you have on your car insurance?

It may seem like there is a disconnect but, believe it or not, the coverage that you have on your own car insurance can impact your legal rights if you are injured while riding a bicycle.

This is because car insurance covers any vehicle-related accidents, including you being injured while riding a bicycle, if the injury is caused by another motor vehicle.

For example, assume that you were riding your bike and the driver of a car did not see you and made a left turn directly in front of you causing you to collide into the side of the car.  You sustained serious injuries including multiple fractures.  What are your legal rights for recovery of your expenses and damages?

You might think that all damage would have to be paid for by the car driver who caused the accident, but that’s not true.

Because this was a vehicle-related accident and Pennsylvania works on a no-fault system, your medical bills will be paid by your own car insurance up to the amount if your coverage, which is usually $5,000. Then you would be able to present a claim for your injuries and pain and suffering against the other driver’s car insurance.

However, in the event that the other driver was Uninsured (meaning he or she has no insurance) or Underinsured (meaning that he or she does not have enough car insurance to pay for all of the damages) then you could present a claim against your own car insurance in the form of an Uninsured or Underinsured claim.

Again, that might not appear to make any sense. Why would you have a claim against your own car insurance for a bicycle accident? Nevertheless, that is how the law works in Pennsylvania.  Any vehicle-related accident is covered by your own car insurance, even accidents involving you riding a bicycle.

So, in our example above where a car driver turns left in front of you, assume that driver has no insurance or a Pennsylvania state minimum policy of $15,000. Also assume that you have a serious injury and the fair value of that claim would be $100,000. If you purchased sufficient Uninsured/Underinsured Coverage on your own car insurance, you could make a claim against that coverage to make up the difference between the fair value of your claim and the insurance coverage of the responsible driver.

In addition, such a claim would not affect your insurance rates or your insurability because you paid for the coverage and Pennsylvania law does not allow your insurance company to hold the claim against you.

So, the bottom line is that it’s very important to have substantial Uninsured/Underinsured coverage not only for car accidents, but also for bicycle accidents.  It’s critical for you to check your Policy to make sure you have this coverage.  It’s optional in Pennsylvania, so you might not have any….

Tim Rayne is a Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyer with the Chester County Pennsylvania based law firm MacElree Harvey.  For over 25 years, Tim has been helping injured accident victims understand their rights and receive fair treatment from insurance companies.  Tim has helped many bicycle accident victims with their serious injury claims.  Tim has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester Pennsylvania and also meets with clients at their homes or virtually via FaceTime or Zoom.  Contact Tim Rayne to schedule a Free Consultation 6108400124 or trayne@macelree.com or TimRayneLaw.com.

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